Research Proposal - Screening Colonoscopies

[MLL]

Hello all! I am an Endoscopy RN, finishing up my Master's this fall-2004 (if all goes well!) I am presently preparing a research proposal dealing with the number of positive findings in screening colonoscopies. By this I mean every finding, not just colorectal polyps or Ca. For those of you unfamiliar with Endo, this could be Crohn's, irritable bowel, ulcerative colitis, several syndromes, etc.

As we are all aware, the research on screening colons has been done before. Thanks to Katie Couric, the general public is now cognizant of the necessity for having screening colonoscopies by a certain age. So, I need to take this proposal one step further in order for it to make an original contribution to the knowledge base that is already out there. Most of what we "find" in Endo, we go ahead and take care of right then and there, such as polyp removal, taking biopsies, etc. The only time we cannot "fix it" during the procedure is when a mass is so large it can only be removed surgically. I cannot do follow-ups on these patients since I would have no knowledge of what the pt. decided to do after leaving our department (without doing case studies, which I do not wish to do as my proposal).

I am presently considering using the data I collect to determine whether or not there are disparities between the different segments of the population with regard to those who have screening colons, and those who have positive findings because they came for a colon only after experiencing S&S.

My question is this - Does this sound like a proposal which has social significance? Does anyone have any other suggestions? I am open to any and all thoughts on this. Thanks!

MLL (Future research nurse, hopefully)